I look around, eyes darting everywhere, trying to make sure no one saw the events that would forever be burned in my memory. I look up at Allison, who has tears streaming down her face.
“We should’ve never done this,” I whispered, now glancing at my hands that were covered in blood. That’s when we hear the sirens, and we make a run for it.
____________________________________________________________________________
Past:
“Heyyy girlies,” I chirp as I sit down at my group’s favorite cafeteria spot. “So…we should totally skip the rest of our classes and head to the island right now,” I said, giddy from the fact that Aidan and I were finally official.
“Mara, there’s no way we could sneak out,” Sarah told me. “Plus, I can’t afford to miss another lecture on chemistry… I am already terribly failing that class.”
“Come on guysss, don’t flake on me. We all need to have some fun- it’s senior year!” I said while cheering. My two best friends, Sarah and Ally, from my cheerleading squad, were my ride-or-dies. We were all connected in some way, shape or form.
“Ok, ok, we’ll go,” Allison said, excited for the eventful day ahead.
“Yay! Y’all are the bestest!” I exclaimed while finishing up my lunch.
_________________________________________________________________________
Present:
They caught us. They put me in a cold, dull, metal room. My eyes are blank, and I feel empty. I’m sitting on a chair, trying to make sense of the evening that had just played out. The door opens. I jumped, startled.
“Hello, Ms. Helen. I am Detective Walsh, the lead of the investigation… can you please tell me from start to finish the events that occurred today,” the person I now knew as Detective Walsh said.
“It wasn’t me,” I whispered in a voice so quiet I could barely hear myself.
“What was that?” Detective Walsh said.
“I want to speak to my mother,” I said clearly now, realizing I had the right to an attorney. I did not need to give this person any information without having an attorney present.
“Alright,” Detective Walsh replied while motioning me to head outside and beckoning me to use the phone.
I pick up the phone and immediately start dialing my mother. I can’t think of anyone else I can call right now, so I call her.
“Hello? Who is this?” I hear my mother say, bringing me a sense of comfort I so much needed to feel at this very moment.
“Mom, I made a mistake,” I quietly said.
“Mara, is that you?!” I heard my mother say, desperation filling her voice. “Where have you been???” she continued.
“I need help Mom,” I tell her, my voice breaking between the words.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” she says, sounding more compassionate than angry. I needed to be strong. There was no way I would admit any fault for doing anything that happened tonight.
“I’m at the police station, and they are accusing me of… taking part in Aidan’s death,” I whisper into the phone. Silence.
“Mom?” I said, hoping for a response of pity. “Mara, don’t tell them anything. Get home now,” she said.
The ride home felt uneasy, and I couldn’t stop shaking.
“Mom, it wasn’t me, I swear,” I told her with tears in my eyes.
“Tell me everything that happened right now, Mara,” she told me steadily.
“Sarah, Allison, some football players, Aidan, and I skipped the rest of school to go to the island…” I started my voice trailing off as I got flashbacks of the evening.
“Once it got dark, we decided to play truth or dare, and at first, the dares were meaningless little pranks, like prank calling someone or jumping into the cold water. But then it eventually started to escalate. We went for more dangerous dares and that’s when it started to go downhill,” I said as my voice broke.
“Someone dared Aidan to jump off a boulder and into the water, and he did. But he hit his head on a pole that was inside the water, and when we noticed that he wasn’t coming up, we got scared… we went to pull him out of the water... That’s when we noticed the blood, and we saw he was no longer breathing,” I said, attempting to compose myself.
“Mara, listen to me closely. You will tell the attorney and detectives you were not there for the incident when it played out. Tell them that you went to the restroom and came back to see him being pulled from the water,” my mom told me. “Where did the rest of your friends go?”
“I have no idea. As soon as we noticed Aidan was dead, we ran separate ways. I ran with Allison, and I haven’t heard from them since,” I told her while trying to keep my cool.
“Go to your room and try to relax. I am going to call an attorney,” my mother said, anxious from the heavy burden she was now carrying.
I quickly climbed the stairs and locked the door to my bedroom, attempting to compose myself. Seconds later, my phone started ringing.
“Mara?!” Ally said.
“Ally?? Why are you calling me,” I whispered frantically to her. I couldn’t let my mother hear this conversation, so I turned on some white noise to block my voice.
“I’m scared, and I don’t know what to do. What if they find out-,” she said. I could hear her crying through the phone.
“STOP. Don’t you dare tell anyone what happened. They can’t know this night was planned out,” I told her, allowing myself to feel somewhat satisfied with what happened.
“Mara, how could you be okay with this??” Ally asked, obviously confused.
“They all got what was coming for them. They deserved to be pushed off that ledge, Ally. You saw how they treated us, especially Aidan. He cheated on me with Sarah,” I said, anger coursing through my veins again.
“But what about the other football guys? They didn’t deserve-” Ally started.
“Of course they did! They are all douchebags, and plus, they were going to tell the cops everything. Ally, you better not say anything. PROMISE ME YOU WON’T TELL ANYONE,” I hissed, still upset.
“I promise,” Ally said weakly.
I hung up the phone and walked downstairs. To my surprise, my attorney had already arrived.
“Hi, sweetheart, this is Mrs. Gutierrez, and she will take your case. Tell her what happened,” my mom told me, eyes narrowing at me.
I shook her hand. “Hi, Mrs. Gutierrez. I’m Mara,” I started.
“My friends and I decided to skip the rest of school today because it’s our senior year, and we wanted to have some fun... So me and a couple of friends went to the island, and we decided to play a fun game of truth or dare. We made prank calls and told funny jokes, and then I went to the restroom. When I got back, I saw my friends gathered in one spot of water, scared. I quickly went over, and I saw what they were staring at-,” I said, starting to sob.
“Aidan was dead,” I said finally.
“We all ran away because we didn’t know what to do. I tried calling 911, but there was no signal,” I said, crying hysterically.
“I’m so-” Mrs. Gutierrez started but was cut off by the sound of our doorbell.
I stood up and opened the door.
“Mara Helen?” the officer stated.
I nodded.
“You’re under arrest.”